Dudely

Happy 6th Birthday Grahamster!

Yep, I remember it as though it was yesterday. It was 6 years ago, to the day, in fact. I was at Cook's in the bone marrow unit with Sydney. In fact, for most of the day's events, Lynley was there as well. Well, she was there until she made all of the nurses and oncologists too nervous and they kicked her out and sent her to Baylor to give birth to the little Dude. You may remember, at this point, his name was Rice. We called him that all through Lynley's pregnancy because that was the size he was when we first discovered him. You may also remember that we had a contest on the Internet to name him - a contest that a few of my friends rigged to ensure that he would be named after them.

It was afternoon. Sydney had just finished up another 7 hour round of ch14.18 antibodies. Thankfully this was a GM-CSF round so we did not have to contend with the ugliness of an IL-2 hangover full of fever and wacky electrolytes. Sydney seemed to be doing pretty well so we asked my mother to come stay with her while I hopped over to All Saints to share in the delivery of the little Dudester. It was not long before he was there and in my loving arms.

Little did I know what an awesome little boy he would turn out to be. He far exceeded my expectations.

Graham... What can I say? He is awesome. He is better than his Dad in just about every way. I guess we have to thank Lynley's genes for that. Thankfully he is my little twinner so everyone will still think it was me that gave him all of his fantastic qualities. Sure, Graham is smart and athletic. And did I also mention that he was also extremely handsome? Well, he is. All of that is well and good but there is something about Graham that sets him above an beyond all of that.

He is compassionate.

He is the nicest and most caring human being I have ever met. I mean that genuinely. He is unbelievably kindhearted. There is no doubt in my mind that he will go on to surpass everything that I can envision for him now. I don't know what it will be but, mark my words, Graham will change the world some day. I don't know whether he will be a doctor, a lawyer, or a beautician but I can tell you this he will achieve greatness. He will change our world. There is no doubt in my mind. His heart is too big to be constrained.

He makes me proud with every single breath he takes.

I love you son.

Happy Birthday.

May you find your purpose.